ljungstrom



(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

' B. LJUNGS'IROM.

DRIVING MBGHANISM FOR VELOCIPBDES.

d Mar. 17, 1896.

/NVENTOH ATTORNEYS (NoModel.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

, B. LJUNGSTRGM.

DRIVING MEGHANISM FOR VELOCIPEDES.

No. 556,545. Patented Mar. 17,1896.

b dla; a/ b ATTORNEYS 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

(No Model.)

B. LJUNGSTRM. DRIVING MEGHANISM FOR VELOCIPEDES. No. 556,545.

Patented Mar. 1'7,- 1896.

A /NVE/voH By f wrom/ers UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BIRGER LJUNGSTRM, OF STOCKHOLM, SVEDEN.

DRIVING MECHANISM FOR VELOCIPEDES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 556,545,41ated March 17, 1896.

Application iiled May12,1894. ySerial No. 510,997. (No model.) Patented in Belgium December 29, 1893, 110.107,835; in Norway December 30, 1893, No. 3,614; in Italy December 31,I 1893, XXVIII, 35,496, LXIX, 368; in France January 3, 1894:,N0. 235,259; in Switzerland January 5,1894,No.7,952; in Spain February 14, 1894,1To. 15,336, andin Austria April To all whom it may corneal-nr Be it known that I, BIRGER LJUNGsTRM, instrumentmaker, a subject of the King of Sweden and Norway, and a resident of Grefgatan 44h, Stockholm, in the Kingdom of Sweden, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Driving Mechanism for Velocipedes, of which the following is a speciiication, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

rllhe invention has been patented in Non way, No. 3,614, dated December 30,1893; in France, No. 235,259, dated January 3, 1894; in Belgium, No. 107,835, dated December 29, 1893; in Italy, XXVIII, 35,496, LXIX, 368, dated December 31,1893; in Spain, No.15,336, dated February 14, 1894; in Switzerland, No. 7,952, dated January 5, 1894, and in Austria, No. 1,177, dated April 23, 1894.

This invention relates to such velocipedes which have a driving-gear consisting of trea dles, chains and ratchet-couplings, the obj ect of the invention being substantially that the gear may be easily changed for a quicker or a slower speed. The treadles have therefore the shape of bent levers, which are located immediately ahead of the hind wheel and directed so that their one arm is directed upward and their other arm forward. Vith the former arms the driving-chains are connected and to the latter ones the pedals are iixed. The chains are attached to the upward-directed arms by means of clamps movable along the arms and provided with lateral projections so as to be easily caught. VIt will thus be possible to raise or to lower the clamps by the feet or by means of some special device, and in this way to displace the points of application of the chains nearer to or farther from the fulcrum of the arms, and in this way to increase or to diminish the gearing.

Figure 1 is a side view of the velocipede, and

Fig. 2 is ahorizontal section of the same on the Fig. 3 is a detail view of a brake device. Fig. 4 is a detail view, partly in section, of the pivot-bearin gs for the treadles.

line A B, Fig. l.

Figs. 4a and 4b show details of the spring at the pivots of the treadles. Fig. 5 is a view showing in section and elevation the drivingcouplings in connection with the rear-shaft axle. Figs. 6 and 7 are detail views relating to the drivin g-couplings. Fig. 8 is a sectional elevation of the movable chain-clamp. Fig. 9 is a plan view of the same. Fig. 10 is a side view of a treadle-arm with the chain-clamp in place. Fig. 11 is a detail view showing the treadle-arms with their clamps engaging an adjustable slider on the frame. Figs. 12, 13 and 14 are detail views showing hand operating means for adjusting the clamps.

The treadles have, as stated, the shape of bent levers, the one arm, d, of these being directed upward and bentso as to be concentric with the hind wheel when the treadle is occupying its middle position. The other arm, b, is directed forward and united with the arm a by means of a stay c.

To the arm d the driving-chaine2 is xed, and at the junction between the arms b and c the pedal a is located. The driving-couplings, by means of which the motion from the chains Ca2 is transmitted to the driving-wheel, consist each of two rings ai a, Fig. 5, the one inserted in the other. The inner of these rings is screwed upon the end of the nave of the driving-wheel and runs on the shaft a5 by means of the ball-bearing formed by the flange d6 and the balls a7. The rings likewise run on ball-bearings arranged in such a way that at either side of the track for the rollers as, which are in the usual Way placed in recesses a between the rings, are grooves containing the balls am. The coupling will by this arrangement run very light and the wear be reduced to a minimum. The chains a2 are wound in one direction around the rings a3, and another chain, b, running around the pulley b2 fixed to the frame, has its end wound in the other direction around the rings d3. In this Way the coupling will in the known manner have an alternate motion to and fro, thus taking along the wheel alternately, when the treadles arel actuated in the usual Way.

In order that the point of application of the chains a2 on the arms a may be moved along the arms these are provided with movable clamps, to which -th'e chains are attached. The clamps are shown in detail in Figs. 8 and 9 and consist of two cross-pieces b4 b5, united by two side pieces b 117. The piece b4, which rests against the front side of the arm a, is provided with short points bs, entering into corresponding shallow recesses b9 in the front side of the arm. The chain is fixed to the piece b5, and between the piece and the arm there is a spring Z910, pressing the piece b4 against the arm just enough to prevent the clamp to move by itself, but so that it may be displaced by pressure or by pulling upward. In order that the rider may be able to easily displace the clamp with the foot the outer side piece of the same is provided with a lug m to be caught by the shoe-sole below or above, according as the clamp is to be raised or lowered. The velocipede is besides provided with a special arrangement for the simultaneous displacement of the clamps. This arrangement is shown in Fig. l2 in several modifications.

The standard m', which is bent in the same way as the arm a, is provided with a slider m2, with which both clamps will engage when the treadles are opposite each other, as shown in Fig. ll. To the frame, which is formed by the standards m m3 and the stays m4 m5, is connected an endless chain or rope m6, running on rollers m7. This chain or rope is connected with the slider m2 and is provided with a handle m8 under the stay m4. This chain is shown in Fig. l. By seizing the handle and conducting it in the one or other direction the clamps are moved upward or downward on the arms a.. The slider, as shown in Fig. ll, has two laterally-projecting lugs, between which the lugs on the side arms of the clamp fit.

Instead of the arrangement now described for adjusting the gear the steering-handle n may be pivotally mounted on the steeringarm, and provided with an arm n', which by means of a rope n2 is connected with the slider m2. By turning the handle so as to stretch the rope the clamps, engaging with the slider, are brought upward, but if the handle is turned in the opposite direction the slider and the clamps fall down by their own weight. This modification is shown in Fig. 12. vThe springs b1@ may in this case be left out, as the chains are always pulling the clamps a little, thus preventing them from sliding on the arms d. If, on the other hand, the treadles are simultaneously brought upward, the chains will slacken and the clamps slide downward. Upward they are however moved in the abovementioned manner.

lVhen the treadles are left free they will both occupy the position shown in Fig. l0- that is, placing themselves one opposite the other. This is obtained partly thereby that their point of gravity is situated ahead of the turning-shaft, partly thereby that they are united with each other in such a way that they tend to place themselves one opposite This latter is effected by means of the other.

a spring, which will occupy the equilibrium when the treadles are opposite each other, but will be strained when the treadles occupy different positions, and therefore tend to bring them back to the former position. -The pivots c' of the treadles are inserted into a tube or muff c4, Fig. 4, iixed to the frame. Grooves in the pivots and, similar grooves in a iiangc c5 in the tube and in caps c secured to the ends of the tube together with balls inserted into these grooves form ball-bearin gs for the pivots, as distinctly shown in Fig. 4E. A bar c6 is passed through the pivots longitudinally. This bar, which unites the pivots but is only at the ends tightly clasped by them, consists of thin steel blades or plates of the same width and length as the whole bar. This bar can therefore be turned (twisted) and is thereby strained as a spring. Such a twisting, although small, is effected alternately in the one and the other direction when actuating the treadles; but if the treadles are left free the spring will rest in its normal state and the treadles are brought one opposite the other. As when using treadles in lieu of cranks the direction of motion of the foot is permanently changing it may prove advantageous, by means of a spring or such like, to take up the living force acquired by the foot at the end of each `downstrokel A snitable returning-spring may be used for this purpose to raise the treadles, being connected thereto and to the frame.

The application of the brake of the machine is effected by displacing the pulley b2. This latter is therefore iiXed to a slider (l, which is guided partly by the cross-piece d? extending between the stays c2 and partly by the fixed cylinder (Z2, in which the end of the slider is entering. On the end directed toward the driving-Wheel the slider is provided with a small brake-pulley cl3. The slider is kept away from the wheel by an interior spring d, the one end of which is fixed to the tubular slide and the other end to the said cylinder by means of an adjustingscrew d5 screwed through the end of the cylinder. The screwpin d5 determines the action of the spring. If the rider is pressing the two treadles simultaneously the chain b will be stretched and the slider is pressed against the wheel and acts thus as a brake.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Let-ters Patent, is

l. In combination, in a bicycle, the ratchets at the hind wheel, the chains extending therefrom, the triangular treadles, the curved arms d, turned upward, the movable chainelamps thereon provided with lugs m, whereby the chain-clamps may be moved upward and downward directly by the feet.

2. In combination, in a bicycle, the ratchets at the hind wheel, the chains extending therefrom, the triangular treadles, the upwardly-turned curved arms a, the movable IOO IIO

IOO

chain-clamps,the support-standard m' curved in the same manner as the arm a, and of the same Width, and the slider m2 on the standard m', by which slider the chain-clamps may be moved upward or downward.

3. In combination, in a bicycle, the frame, the driving-Wheel, the ratchet-drums, the chains extending therefrom, the treadle-arms pivoted to the frame and having perforations or sockets and the chain-clamps embracing said arms and including a toothed springpressed part b4 adapted to engage with the perforations in the treadle arms, substantially as described.

4. In combination, in a bicycle, the frame, the driving-wheel, the ratchet-drums thereon, the treadle, the chain and the chainciamps comprising the pieces -b4 b5 on opposite sides of the arm, the links connecting said pieces and the spring Z910 between the arm and the piece h5 adapted to press the piece b4 into contact with the arms, substantially as described.

5. In combination in a bicycle, the frame, the driving-wheel, the driving connections and the treadles for operating the same comprising the arms, the laterally-extending pivots c c', the tubular bearing c4 into which the pivots extend, the ball-bearin g within the tube and the spring-bar c6 connecting the pivots of the treadles, substantially as described.

6. In combination, the frame, the drivingwheel, the ratchet-drums, the chain b connected thereto, the pulley b2 about Which the chain runs when one treadle is depressed, the treadles connected to the chain, the springpiece d carrying the pulley b2 and movably supported on the frame and the brake d3 carried by the moving piece and adapted to be thrust against the driving-wheel when both treadles are depressed simultaneously, substantially as described.

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

BIRGER LJUNGsTRM.

Vitnesses:

ERNST SvANQvIsT, CARL TH. LUNDHOLM. 

